Wasps, Bees, and Ants 



485 



that of the male is not more than \ inch. The males, only about ^ inch 



long, are much more rarely seen than the females. 



Among the smaller parasitic Hymenoptera, 

 the Chalcidids, Braconids, and Proctotrypids, but 

 few complete life-histories are known. Many 

 of the Proctotrypids, an enormous family in 

 number of species, live, all but the winged adult 

 stage of their life, in the eggs of other insects, 



FIG. 683. 



FIG. 683. Pelecin^s polyturator, female. 

 FIG. 684. Pelecinus polyturator, male. 

 natural size. 



FIG. 684. 

 (Natural size.) 

 (After Packard; three and one-half times 



a half -dozen individuals perhaps in a single egg; needless to say they are 

 among our smallest insects. Some are wingless, some show a marvelous hyper- 



FIG. 685. Meteorus hyphantricB, parasite of the green-fruit worms, Xylina sp. 

 (After Slingerland; much enlarged.) 



metamorphosis in their life-history, and all present extremely interesting prob- 

 lems to biological students. Howard gives in his Insect Book an account 

 of the life-history, as worked out by Schwarz, of a chalcis-fly, Euplectrus 



